Posts Tagged: Bombyliidae

Bee Flies: Pollinators with a Bad Reputation

The late Argentine-born biologist Beatriz Moisset (1934-2022) of Willow Grove, Pa., called the insect "A Pollinator with a Bad...

A bee fly, family Bombyliidae, heads for a yellow zinnia in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A bee fly, family Bombyliidae, heads for a yellow zinnia in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The bee fly hovers over a yellow zinina. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The bee fly hovers over a yellow zinina. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The bee fly sips nectar from the zinnia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The bee fly sips nectar from the zinnia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The bee fly takes flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The bee fly takes flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Why Flies Are Pollinators, Too!

Will all the pollinators please stand up! Or do a fly-by like the Blue Angels or a crawl-by like babies competing in a diaper derby. Bees--there...

A bee fly, genus Villa, collecting pollen on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

A bee fly, genus Villa, collecting pollen on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Honey bee (left) and a syrphid fly, aka hover fly or flower fly, sharing a Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Honey bee (left) and a syrphid fly, aka hover fly or flower fly, sharing a Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Not Bees--They're Flies

There are "bees" and there are "flies."And then there are "bee flies."Bee flies? They're so named because they look somewhat like bees. Order:...

Bee Fly

A BEE FLY nectars on sedum. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Large Body

LARGE BODY of bee fly shows an equally large wing span. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Sip of Nectar

BEE FLY sips nectar from sedum. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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